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Show I stoics wnimsf Newspaper Clipping By RICHARD HILL WILKINSON (Associated Newspapers WNU Service.) N ILL Trainor," Lee Shep-I Shep-I ard announced, "is going J J south with Calvin Wendell. Wen-dell. Mr. Wendell hired him as secretary and companion." Lee paused and wagged his head. "I tell you, you can't keep a smart man like Bill down. Mr. Wendell Is not only the richest man in this town, but he's famous all over the state as a political leader." Brenda, Lee's wife, bit her lip -and regarded her husband defiantly. "Bill Trainor," she said, "isn't one bit smarter than you are, Lee. I -do wish you'd stop thinking of that man as some sort of saint." Lee looked up reproachfully. "Oh, come now, Brenda, I'm not in it with Bill. Why, imagine Mr. Wendell Wen-dell hiring me as his secretary and companion! I tell you. Bill's smart to get a job like that." "You," said Brenda shortly, "don't have to go to Mr. Wendell for a job. You already have one. And you're able to keep it, and get -a promotion every year, and a raise in salary. Bill Trainor's had five jobs in as many years." "And always improving himself," Lee chuckled. "Oh, there's no use trying to be kind, Brenda. Little Lee will never be as smart as Bill Trainor, no matter how hard he tries. Why, Bill never had a job that paid him such a small salary .as I'm getting now." "To hear him tell it he hasn't," Brenda's eyes blazed. "Lee, sometimes some-times I think you're positively stupid. stu-pid. I mean about other people. The inferiority complex you have. Especially where Bill Trainor is concerned. You've let him talk you into believing he's smarter than you and brighter and more popular and "And clothes! Good heavens, can't the youth dress himself?" "Naturally," said Lee coldly, "when Mr. Wendell and his secretary secre-tary appear in the smart hotels and clubs at Miami, he'll want Bill to look the part of a gentleman. He probably realizes that a man can't dress extravagantly on fifty dollars a week. I think it's pretty decent of him." And so Brenda, for the time being, at least, gave up trying to convince her husband of Bill Trainor's falsity. She dropped the matter tntirely, apparently ap-parently conceding victory. And yet, during the days that followed, something some-thing Lee had said lingered in her mind. And at length Brenda yielded yield-ed to a desire to put into execution a half-formed plan simply to rid her mind of this annoying thought. It was three weeks after Brenda had had her argument with Lee that she wrote a letter. And it was two weeks after that that she received re-ceived a reply. Accompanying the reply was a newspaper clipping. . Brenda looked at the clipping and her heart bounded . . . That night when Lee came home to dinner he found a newspaper clipping clip-ping at his place and curiously picked it up. There was a photograph photo-graph of two men, standing before an automobile. One of the men was Calvin Wendell, wearing a Panama Pan-ama hat, flannels and a dark jacket. jack-et. The other was Bill Trainor. Bill had just opened the car door and was standing one side to permit the appearance of Mr. Wendell. Bill wore a uniform. Beneath the clipping was the following fol-lowing caption: "Mr. Calvin Wendell Wen-dell of Frankton, Maine, who has just arrived in Miami with chauffeur chauf-feur . . ." Lee went suddenly white. He glanced across at his wife, who was eyeing him fearfully. But at the expression ex-pression which appeared in his eyes she knew her fears were no longer necessary. Smiling, she leaned across the table. ta-ble. "And clothes, darling," she said. "And clothes." "floney, you're a sweet kid and a loyal wife." , will do bigger things. And despite the fact that he was at the foot of your class in school, that he's been unemployed more than he's been employed, that he isn't married and doesn't own more. than the shirt on his back you still think of him as some sort of superior being. Honestly, Hon-estly, it does seem as though you'd wake up!" Lee saw the vehemence in his i wife's eyes, and it amused him. He stood up and came across the room, leaning over to pat her shoulder. "Honey, you're a sweet kid and a loyal wife. But you're wrong about Bill. Back in school he devoted a little lit-tle too much time to athletics, I'll admit. But each job he's had since graduating has been better than the one before. He's quit them because he wants a, lot of experience before be-fore settling down. And you can't blame a man for not investing his money in real estate nowadays. Goodness knows, I wish we'd rented instead of bought." "Well, at least we have something some-thing that's tangible, something that we can look at and call our own, something that we came by honestly." hon-estly." Lee drew his brows together in a frown. "Bill's honest, Brenda. You mustn't insinuate he isn't honest" "Then why doesn't he pay you back the money he borrowed? When a man doesn't pay his debts, he isn't honest!" Lee's frown vanished. "Oh, that! Don't worry about that, honey. Bill will pay us back. That boy is going go-ing a long ways.' Brenda laughed bitterly. She couldn't help it. Lee's attitude toward to-ward Bill Trainor seemed such a blind, hopeless thing. Lee was, after aft-er all, such a simple person, so wholly believing and faithful to his friends. The situation, as far as I worthless Bill Trainor was concerned, con-cerned, was pathetic. "Calvin Wendell," Lee was saying, say-ing, "wouldn't hire Bill for his secretary sec-retary and companion unless the boy had something that was pretty outstanding. Brenda was silent at that, because be-cause it was true. Being secretary and companion to Calvin Wendell was a pretty important position. She couldn't imagine how Bill had ever secured the position. She couldn't imagine it because she couldn't pic-kire pic-kire Calvin Wendell entrusting such matters as his correspondence to a person like bill Trainor. "How much," she asked, looking up at Lee, "is Mr. Wendell paying the boy wonder?" Lee beamed. "Fifty a week, his keep and clothes. Which, if you ask me, is a pretty good job these times." |